To the arid side of the chernozem belt lies the belt of chestnut soils or dark brown soils. They occupy the semiarid middle-latitude steppe lands, in North America and Asia. The chestnut-soil profile is generally similar to the chernozem, but contains less humus and hence is not so dark in colour. The soil structure tends to be prismatic in the B-horizon.
The chestnut soils are fertile under conditions of adequate rainfall or irrigation, but lie in a hazardous marginal belt in which years of drought and adequate rainfall are alternated. Bordering on the productive chernozem wheat belt of the Great Plains, the chestnut-soil belt of the United States offers a temptation for expanded wheat cultivation. Under special cultivation practices that conserve soil moisture, a period of moist years brings high grain yields to these marginal belts; but a series of drought years can bring repeated crop failures and poverty.
Towards still more arid regions the chestnut soils give way to the brown soils, generally similar, but with still less humus and consequently a lighter colour. In the western United States, the brown soils occupy basin in the central Rockies of Wyoming, the Colorado Piedmont.
The brown soils are typical of the middle-latitude steppes and support a light growth of grasses suitable for livestock grazing.
Locals hypothesize that the legacy of Italian blood and culture in Cologne, colonized by the Romans more than 1500 years ago, makes the people more jovial and lighthearted. Cologne is the largest city on the Rhine.
Kolsch is not only the dialect spoken here but, also the name of their own top-fermented beer. There are more than 4,000 pubs, restaurant's and brewery taverns in Cologne.
Unlike many of the world's large cities, Cologne, with a population of over a million, gets better every day, there are more things to do and see, more new and innovative buildings... more
Travel is an opportunity to learn, whether geography, languages, history or other subjects.
Cologne is situated on the beautiful Rhine River.